BeoVision MX Range - Overview

Manufactured: 1985 - 2006Designer:Colours:

"The device appears as a well-formed cabinet from the front. From the rear, the encapsulation of the picture tube is so well done that the device may be enjoyed from all angles. The stacked-build of the device makes it possible to place it in a corner. Technically it contains many new functions, including the integration of a contrast screen that reduces disturbances from incoming light."

So wrote The Danish Design Council when presenting their 1986 ID prize for exceptional design to David Lewis and Bang & Olufsen for the Beovision MX 2000. Launched in season 1984/85 as Beovision M20, the basic conceptual elements of the Beovision MX exist virtually unchanged today.

Now in 2004, many similar words could be used when describing the 30th member of the Beovision MX family, Beovision MX 8000. The 66cm (viewable screen) model features the latest technologies of today within sound and picture reproduction; including an optional 5.1 channel digital surround sound module and Bang & Olufsen’s own VisionClear system.

"Whereas the MX TVs we produce today look the same on the outside as those we produced in the mid-1980s, they are completely different on the inside" states Torben Ballegaard Sørensen, Bang & Olufsen President and CEO.

Big sound

In 1984, when the MX range was introduced with Beovision M20 (the forerunner of Beovision MX 2000), TV sound was produced by passive log-line loudspeakers, producing either stereo or mono sound. Whether coming from a television programme or VHS, Betamax or Video 2000 VCR, it was only experienced as coming from the TV itself. Today, multi-channel surround sound systems provide enveloping sonic experiences in the home. Back then the user listened to two 7-watt speakers in the TV itself. Today six powerful active speakers are becoming more and more popular.

In 2002, important dialogue emerges from the powerful active loudspeakers which, following the original MX design, are sill located directly below the screen. Thanks to Bang & Olufsen’s active loudspeaker technologies, Beovision MX 8000 delivers a sound pressure level capable of equalling many hi-fi systems. Multi-channel sound experiences covered too, as the build-in multi-channel digital surround sound module allows the connection of several external BeoLab loudspeakers, such as the BeoLab 8000 or BeoLab 6000. Big bass effects remind you of a trip to the cinema once you’ve connected a BeoLab 2 subwoofer, an 850-watt low-frequency producer to highlight the thrills and spills of a large-screen auditorium.

Sharp picture

On the screen, the blue waters and green rainforests of the tropics appear as truly blue and green, rather than shades of a similar colour. Bang & Olufsen’s patented picture quality elements, known collectively as VisionClear, ensure your visual experience contains the correct balance of sharpness, brightness, saturation and black level, allowing you to enjoy the programme instead of fiddling with the settings. The optional anti-reflection coated contrast screen, mounted in front of the picture tube, reduces the amount of incoming light by up to 99%, ensuring that you’re not disturbed by unwanted shadows or reflections.

Possibilities provide freedom

Another central element to the MX concept is modularity. Numerous placement, connection and build-in possibilities combine to offer a large degree of freedom within the same concept. Either standing freely on the floor, placed on a dresser or on a motorised stand, your Beovision MX 8000 can show up where you prefer, rather than dictating where it should be placed.

The MX range was the first to bring the TV out into the open and it continues to show alternative ways of living with television.

With the MX range, the TV finally became a discreet part of interior decoration. In 2002 you can choose between a 51cm or 66cm screen, six different colours and a versatile range of stands and brackets - with or without motorised turning. What comes as standard, however, is an uncompromising sound and picture quality that has set the reference for modern television.

One of the most convincing features of the Beovision range addresses the fact that people watch television around the clock. It's called Automatic Picture Control, and it's unique to Bang & Olufsen. While you’re watching television, the MX TV keeps an eye on the light level in the room. Close a curtain or switch on a lamp and the MX will automatically adjust itself to give you the best picture possible. A built-in sensor on the front of the panel constantly surveys the light conditions in the room and adjusts colour, contrast and brightness automatically, if a reading light is switched on, or sunlight suddenly floods the room. Although the sensor isn’t very complicated, it controls virtually all picture adjustments, and the company considers it to be among the most important elements in judging viewing comfort. Automatic Picture Control is incorporated in all television sets in the Beovision range.

Want to remove the glass screen for cleaning?

Remove the plastic strips above and below the screen by first pushing with your finger on each corner. The strip will then detach slightly. Remove slowly and carefully each of the two strips. Each strip is held in place by several small plastic retainers. When the strips are off you'll see four screws on the edge of the TV; loosen them and remove the glass screen.

Tip: it would be best to place a soft blanket beneath the glass front just in case it drops inadvertently!

Outstanding design and finish

Filling a television with every conceivable gadget that technology offers is easy enough. What’s more difficult is identifying what really improves the overall experience of watching TV and eliminating the things that don’t. That’s the philosophy behind the MX range. In both form and function, it’s a clear-cut case of less being more.

If you often watch television during the day, you’ll be familiar with reflections from carpets and furniture in the screen. The problem was solved with a little help from the optical industry. An ultra-thin coating on the front of the contrast screen bends the incoming light, and prevents about 90% of all the reflections that the viewer sees. Since a coating will always give a residual colour, a blue tone has been chosen, due to the eye’s low sensitivity to this colour range.

As a side benefit, antireflective coating makes black areas in the picture appear pitch black, adding depth and perspective to the general picture performance.

Turning table

Choose the optional motorised stand and your MX television will be able to turn through an arc of 70 degrees. You can program it to turn towards you as you sit down in your favourite viewing chair and switch on the TV.

Use

Unlike other televisions the Beovision MX doesn’t dictate where it should stand, but instead allows you to place it in endless different ways and in any room of your choice.

Bang & Olufsen have a long lasting commitment to the principle of Active loudspeakers, i.e. the idea that each loudspeaker unit is powered by an individual amplifier with a specific crossover network, to ensure perfectly natural sound reproduction. The principle has definite advantages in the field of television sound.

Despite critical operating conditions, Beovision products succeed in providing sonic performances which surpass those of many hi-fi systems. The Active loudspeakers in Beovision Avant, for instance, reproduce a sound quality equal to a pair of BeoLab 2500s.

And if your demands exceed those of the average viewer, the speakers’ modularity allows you to enhance the sound performance with any choice of loudspeakers in the BeoLab range.